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A predilection or inclination to one thing rather than to others; special taste or liking; as, a partiality for poetry or painting. Roget.

verb passionately, often express a very strong predilection for any pursuit, or object of taste -- a kind of enthusiastic fondness for anything. Cogan. The bravery of his grief did put me Into a towering passion. Shak. The ruling passion, be it what it will, The ruling passion conquers reason still. Pope. Who walked in…

Inclination; decided taste; bias; as, a penchant for art.

A semisolid unctuous substance, neutral, and without taste or odor, derived from petroleum by distilling off the lighter portions and purifying the residue. It is a yellowish, fatlike mass, transparent in thin layers, and somewhat fluorescent. It is used as a bland protective dressing, and as a substitute for fatty mat…

A tasteless white crystalline substance, extracted from the roots of the sulphurwort (Peucedanum), masterwort (Imperatoria), and other related plants; -- called also imperatorin.

Belonging to, or resembling, pewter; as, a pewtery taste.

class called Philistines. See Philistine, 3. [Recent] Carlyle. On the side of beauty and taste, vulgarity; on the side of morals and feeling, coarseness; on the side of mind and spirit, unintelligence, -- this is Philistinism. M. Arnold.

A basic amido derivative of phloroglucin, having an astringent taste.

found in the Calabar bean (the seed of Physostigma venenosum), and extracted as a white, tasteless, substance, amorphous or crystalline; -- formerly called eserine, with which it was regarded as identical.

The seed of a Brazilian lauraceous tree (Nectandra Puchury) of a taste and smell between those of nutmeg and of sassafras, -- sometimes used medicinally. Called also sassafras nut.

A colorless viscous substance having a bitter-sweet taste.

Of or pertaining to Pierides or Muses. Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring. Pope.

Stimulating to the taste; giving zest; tart; sharp; pungent; as, a piquant anecdote. "As piquant to the tongue as salt." Addison. "Piquant railleries." Gov. of Tongue.

he order Anacardiaceæ, containing a kernel of a pale greenish color, which has a pleasant taste, resembling that of the almond, and yields an oil of agreeable taste and odor; -- called also pistachio nut. It is wholesome and nutritive. The tree grows in Arabia, Persia, Syria, and Sicily. [Written also pistachia.]…

fording pleasure or showing favor; to vouchsafe; to consent. Heavenly stranger, please to taste These bounties. Milton. That he would please 8give me my liberty. Swift.

The works of a poetaster. [R.]

A poetaster. Swinburne.

A malt liquor, of a dark color and moderately bitter taste, possessing tonic and intoxicating qualities.

opposed to relative; as, the idea of beauty is not positive, but depends on the different tastes individuals.

erious damage to the crop. -- Potato whisky, a strong, fiery liquor, having a hot, smoky taste, and rich in amyl alcohol (fusel oil); it is made from potatoes or potato starch. -- Potato worm (Zoöl.), the large green larva of a sphinx, or hawk moth (Macrosila quinquemaculata); -- called also tomato worm. See Illust.…